A company year-end party usually uses up to five kinds of video: an opening film, a year in review, greetings or sketches from each department, award and tribute clips, and short screens for the lucky draw and the links between acts. You don't need all five. If time is short, make the opening and the review first, and start collecting material about six weeks before the night.
In Taiwan this is the weiya, the company banquet at the end of the lunar year, or the spring banquet held just after New Year. It is one of the few evenings when the whole company sits down together. Everyone is eating and waiting for the draw, and the big screen stays on all night. What plays on it decides whether this is just another year-end party or the one people are still talking about by the coffee machine the next morning. The job often lands on admin, HR or the staff welfare committee, people who don't normally handle video, and usually with about a month to go. This page takes each video in turn, so you can prepare without a last-minute scramble.
Five videos often played at a year-end party
1. Opening film
Lights down, music up, screen on: one to two minutes that set the tone for the evening. A common approach is to take this year's theme or keyword and cut it quickly against footage from across the company's year.
2. Year in review
Set out the year's milestones in order: new products, new offices, awards won, projects you got through together. Three to five minutes is enough. Photos with short captions can be very moving, and every department doesn't need the same amount of screen time.
3. Department greetings and comedy sketches
Each department records ten to thirty seconds: a New Year greeting or a short skit. This is usually the part of the night that gets the room laughing. Ask everyone to hold the phone horizontally, record somewhere quiet and say the department name first, and set the deadline two weeks before the party.
4. Awards and tributes
Short films for long-service awards, outstanding employees and colleagues who are retiring, twenty to forty seconds each. For how to run the awards and lay out the screens, see award ceremony videos. If someone retired this year, you might also prepare a retirement tribute video.
5. Lucky draw and links between acts
A countdown for the draw, title cards that reveal each prize, transition screens between performances. None of these need to be long, but they give the evening a consistent design and make the host's job easier.
You don't need all five
When budget and time are limited, start with the opening and the year in review; these two are what bring the whole room into the evening together. Department clips depend on whether colleagues are willing to take part. If the material doesn't come in, don't force it. Put the time into the review instead.
Collecting material
- Open one shared cloud folder with subfolders by department or by month. Upload the original photo and video files; don't send them through LINE or other chat apps, which compress them. See how to send large video files.
- Send one set of recording instructions: phone horizontal, ten to thirty seconds, no loud background, department name at the start.
- Write a list of the year's events: date, event, one line of explanation. The editor doesn't work at your company, so this list matters more than the photos.
- Logo and theme visuals: this year's party theme, the key visual, and any set typefaces and colours.
Check before the night
Ask the restaurant or venue about the screen's aspect ratio, the playback equipment and the sound output. Many banquet halls project at 16:9, but some LED walls have unusual ratios. Once the videos are finished, try to get to the venue early for a test playback, and keep the files on two separate USB drives. For what to ask, see LED wall video sizes and specifications.
Timeline
- Six weeks before: decide which videos to make and send out the call for material.
- Three to four weeks before: all material collected and handed to the editor.
- One week before: review the first draft, gather everyone's comments and reply in one go.
- A few days before: receive the playback files and test them at the venue.
Year-end parties cluster between December and Lunar New Year, when editing schedules tend to fill up, so the earlier you get in touch, the more flexibility there is. Other kinds of event video are covered under event video production.
Frequently asked questions
Can we use pop songs in the year-end party video?
Playing a video only at an internal company event is a different situation from posting it online. For any version that will be uploaded publicly, use licensed music. The principle is the same as for weddings; see playing at the venue vs posting online.
Colleagues' clips vary in picture quality. Will they look odd together?
In the edit, colour is matched and every clip gets the same title cards and frame, so the result looks much tidier. As long as clips are filmed horizontally and the sound is clear, lower picture quality is fine.
Can the footage from the night be cut into a highlight afterwards?
Yes. Send us the recordings and they can be cut into a two- to three-minute highlight, for the company to keep or for your careers page. See the videos a corporate event needs.
